Hello! My name is Anita and I’m a part of the Minnesota 4-H State Ambassador Leadership Team. Our team made a ton of progress this fall and I’m so excited to share it with you all. From Oct. 3-9, our team worked together to promote National 4-H Week. National 4-H Week is a perfect time for all youth, parents, volunteers and alumni to come together and celebrate the many opportunities and projects that are offered by 4-H. We also encouraged 4-H'ers on social media to participate in little “challenges” for each day of National 4-H Week. These challenges included Service Sunday, Make a Meme Monday, Try it Tuesday, Wear it Wednesday, Throwback Thursday and Favorite Friday. Through these social media challenges, 4-H'ers were able to create memes, talk about their favorite 4-H activities, service projects, merch, something new that they tried and how they’ve grown in 4-H. It was so nice to see everyone’s creativity and participation!
Our state ambassador team also met up in-person for our first ever retreat. This was from Oct. 22-24, but I’d have to admit that it was quite a busy weekend. Not only did we do some fun team-bonding activities like painting pumpkins, we also covered some skill-building activities, leadership lessons, and most importantly, planned for our upcoming BLUs! Please stick around for more information about BLUs in your region, check out our Cloverchat podcast (more episodes dropping soon), watch social media for some virtual learning experiences and keep an eye out for the announcement of our statewide service project.
High school teens also have the opportunity to go to the National 4-H Conference where they’ll be able to discuss issues that face youth and communities or attend the Citizenship Washington Focus (CWF) to learn more about the legislative branch of our government and explore historical sites in Washington, D.C. Plans for both of these experiences are still underway, but they are expected to resume in 2022. Please stay tuned for more information about these two awesome leadership experiences!
Since fall is already here, we’d like you to think about things to be thankful for. It has been tough the past couple of years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and sometimes, we take a few things for granted. I’ve enjoyed being able to talk to my family, friends and 4-H peers at in-person events. It was so endearing to finally see them face-to-face especially after a long period of time. How about you? What are you thankful for?
Anita Van, Dakota County
Minnesota 4-H State Ambassador Leadership Team